3815 replies to this topic

[Agnostic]

...Flintoff has learned to hit the ball when it is right to hit, not just when the crowd roar. That is some achievement...

Flintoff approaching true greatness.

It would be great to see Andy Flintoff versus Brett Lee or Glenn McGrath or even Warney.

England is almost home.

[zxb]

Now that was quite tough. Being a hostile pitch with 2 spinners and some pacy quicks. Probably harder than the run chase at Lords against NZ.

Flinty against Brett could be interesting. I think Warny or Mcgrath would get him though. Havng said that, he handled Saun Pollock quite well last year.

I still don't agree that Flinty is a new Beefy. His batting recently since the SA series has ben excellent, perhaps even better than Beefy, but his bowling isn't quite that classy. Yet. :confused:

[Agnostic]

Undoubtedly England's greatest bar-emptier since you-know-who. Now his cricket is worthy of mention in the same breath too. Composed innings of 57 not out to secure victory on the final afternoon, with two sixes a late addition and no longer a staple. Seventh successive Test in which he has scored fifty. Less obviously he is now a genuine wicket-taker too: since January 2004 his strike-rate is almost exactly the same as that of Jeff Thomson. Six wickets in the match, including Lara with a brutal lifter. Also chipped away the barnacle-like Chanderpaul as England stormed back into the game. Has now bowled 20 balls to Lara in his last four innings, dismissing him three times and conceding 12 runs.

Poms versus Convicts would be worth going miles to watch,

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"Poor lad: spent most of the game looking like the little boy lost"

Poor Andy.

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'Nother 50 for Flinty, as usual. If all our men batted like he did, we'd have no problems in that department.

[Agnostic]

A pity that one of cricket's all-time great batsmen has to make his exit from England in such a fashion.

Pity he couldn't lead half as well as he could bat.

[zxb]

Sadly alas. Still, 7 in a row for us. Hopefully we can do better than last summer and beat SA. That will be a rather large challenge than the West Indies, or a depleted Kiwi side.

[Agnostic]

This is Richie Benaud's 20th Century World XI in batting order:

1. Sunil Gavaskar.
2. Jack Hobbs.
3. Don Bradman.
4. Sachin Tendulkar,
5. Vivian Richards.
6. Imran Khan.
7. Gary Sobers.
8. Adam Gilchrist.
9. Shane Warne.
10.Sydney Barnes.
11. Dennis Lillee.

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I am surprised how Khan made the side. I'd rather have Haddles or Miller. Maybe it was Khans charisma? :confused:

There is still one problem though. Who on earth will the play against? Worst of the world eleven?

[Agnostic]

Maybe because he was an allrounder?

If I was Benaud, I would have chosen Richard Hadlee in place of Imran.

Meanwhile, Sachin seems to be tickled pink.

[zxb]

Bump. So the ICC trophy...

[Agnostic]

"We have never won the Champions Trophy," he said. "We want to win it this time."

So says Ponting.

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I'm sure he does, but he's going to have to fight for it.

You'll forgive me if I abstain from wishing you good luck tomorrow? :eek:

[Agnostic]

May the better team win. They are billing it the clash of the middleweights.

[zxb]

May the best side win, which is ironic really as the stronger side and world cup finalists are losing. :confused:

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7 wicket win for England. Vaughan apparently put India in because we are better at chasing than defending. He didn't mention that we haven't won a defensive match since the world cup .

[Agnostic]

We played a shoddy game and deserved to lose. Well played England. Flinty is on his way to becoming the best allrounder in the world.

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Eng 307/5, Flinty 99. Can the total defending jinx be broken now???

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70 run win for us. A far cry from the Natwest series 2 years ago. Maybe it is because your chaps haven't had time to adapt to the pitches. :confused:

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India 204 ao. Enland 118/6. Intriguing.